School-desk or the like.



No. 79.2;062. PATENTED JUNE 13, 1905,

P. J. MULLER.

SCHOOL DESK OR THE LIKE APPLICATION FILED JAN. 4, 1904.

Nirnp STATES Patented June 13, 1905.

PATENT Fries.

SCHOOL-DESK OR THE LIKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 792,062 dated June 13, 1905. Application filed January 4, 1904. Serial No. 187,683.

I0 1/ 7071/0711 it may concern.- 5

Be it known that LPAUL J OHANNES MULLER, a subject of the King of Prussia, German Empcror, whose residence and post-office address is No. 1O Spandauerstrasse, Charlottenburg, near Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements Relating to School-Desks or the Like, of which the following is a specilication.

My invention relates in general to improved means for hinging a row of objects, such as pieces of furniture, to a floor; and, more specifically, it consists of an improved apparatus for mounting a row of school desks and seats on the floor of a school-room so that the same may be tilted to one side for cleaning or other purposes. It has been heretofore proposed to employ a continuous rail attached to or laid upon the floor, to which one end of a row of desks or similar objects may be hinged, so that they may be tipped to one side to enable the attendant to readily clean the floor under the desks; but such rails have been non-adjustable as to length, and consequently it has been difficult to change the arrangement of the desks after they are once put in place without employing the services of a mechanic, and the necessity of making special lengths of rails for each particular job has increased the cost of manufacture and installation.

I have invented an improved form of adjustable floor-rail and tilting foot for use therewith which is made in sections and can be assembled by persons unskilled in ironworking and varied to meet any condition of school-room or arrangement of desks therein.

The preferred form of my invention is embodied in the apparatus illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawings, in which Figure 1 is an end view of a row of desks with my invention applied thereto, the first one of said desks being shown tilted over to one side. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, showing an extended portion of the rail,to which no desk has been attached. Fig. 3 is an end view of another row of smaller desks. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the same with parts broken away. Fig. 5 is a detail side elevation of my improved tilting foot and crosssection of the rail. Fig. 6 is an end elevation of the tilting foot and side elevation of a portion of the rail. Fig. 7 is a plan view of the rail, showing a different adjustment of the sections.

Throughout the drawings like referenceletters indicate like parts.

(on are sections of the composite rail, preferably made of a length slightly longer than the space occupied by one desk lengthwise of the row of desks. Each of these sections is preferably made in the form of a plane angleiron. These are assembled back to back, as shown in the drawings, so that one row of sections faces in one direction and the other row of sections in the other direction, each one of the sections facing in one direction overlapping the ends of two of the sections facing in the other direction. The overlapping ends of the sections are preferably clamped together by one or more tilting feet 6. Each tilting foot is formed of a bifurcated portion which straddles the rail embracing the overlapping portions of the vertical flanges of the angle-irons, as clearly shown in Fig. 5. One leg of the bifurcated portion is provided with clamping means, such as setscrew it, mounted therein and adapted to compress the portion of the rail within the bifurcated portion of the tilting foot. The upper portion of the tilting foot is provided with one member of a hinge connection, such as the pintle g. (Clearly shown in Fig. 6.)

0 represents a desk and seat or bench therefor, which is hinged at one end to one or more of the tilting feet Z) Z) by any convenient means.

The operation of my invention is as follows: The floor-rail being formed by assembling the sections, as shown in Figs. 2, 5, and 6, the desks or other articles of furniture are hinged thereto in the well-known way. If it is desired to vary the space between the desks or increase or decrease the total length of rail, these various objects can readily be attained by varying the amount of overlap of the constituent sections of the rail and the position of the tilting feet 6. Thus in Fig. 2 there is shown a series of desks and benches therefor, each of which occupies a space :0 lengthwise I00 of the rail, and this requires the sections of the rail to be spread, so that a distance (Z exists between the adjacent ends of any two sections on the same side of the rail. If, however, a smaller desk, such as is shown in Fig. 4c, is to be substituted, which smaller desk 00- cupies a space 7 the rail-sections are slid one upon the other, so as to shorten the length of the rail and leave only a space f between the adjacent ends of any two sections upon one side of the rail, while no space whatever is left between some of the sections on the other side. Again, in Fig. 7 aconstructionisshown in which the rail-sections are caused to abut one against the other, thus further shortening the length of the rail. It is evident that in this way a standard length of rail-section may be incorporated into rails of any given length within wide limits and that such rail may be adapted for attachment of various sizes of desks or other articles of furniture.

The advantages of my invention comprise its complete adaptability to all conditions of floor-space and desk arrangement in any given school-room by simply loosening a series of set-screws and arranging the elements forming the rail and tightening up said set-screws, thus obviating the services of a skilled mechanic or the use of any tools other than a screw-driver or other simple means for adjusting the clamping devices, and the eheapness of construction which results from the fact that a standard size of rail-section can be manufactured in quantity and any length of rail built up therefrom by the use of a standard form of tilting foot used in conjunction therewith. Thus every school or other customer can be supplied with its wants by the simple manufacture of two standard articles in large quantities, and any desired rearrangement of the desks can be made without throwing away the apparatus already in use or purchasing new parts.

It is evident, of course, that my invention can be used for other purposes than the assembling and mounting of school-desks and that variations could be made in the details of construction illustrated, such as in the cross-section of the angle-iron section, the shape of the tilting foot, the character of the hinge member carried thereby, &c., without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention so long as the novel features above described are retained.

Having therefore described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of an extensible rail composed of iron sections adapted to rest upon a floor, each one of the sections facing in one direction overlapping the ends of two of the sections facing in the other direction, and a tilting foot adapted to be clamped thereto and provided with one member of a hinge connection.

2. The combination of an extensible rail adapted to rest upon a floor, and a tilting foot adapted to be clamped thereto and provided with one member of a hinge connection, said tilting foot comprising a bifurcated portion adapted to straddle the rail, and a clamping means mounted in one leg of said bifurcated portion.

3. A composite rail composed of angle-iron sections placed back to back, each one of the sections facing in one direction overlapping the ends of two of the sections facing in the other direction, in combination with a tilting foot comprising a bifurcated portion adapted to straddle the overlapping ends of any two sections, and a set-screw mounted in one leg of said bifurcated portion.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

PAUL JOHANNES MULLER.

\Vitnesses:

VVOLDEMAR HAUPT, HENRY HAsPER. 

